Speaker intent analysis system

ABSTRACT

A speaker intent analysis system and method for validating the truthfulness and intent of a plurality of participants&#39; responses to questions. A computer stores, retrieves, and transmits a series of questions to be answered audibly by participants. The participants&#39; answers are received by a data processor. The data processor analyzes and records the participants&#39; speech parameters for determining the likelihood of dishonesty. In addition to analyzing participants&#39; speech parameters for distinguishing stress or other abnormality, the processor may be equipped with voice recognition software to screen responses that while not dishonest, are indicative of possible malfeasance on the part of the participants. Once the responses are analyzed, the processor produces an output that is indicative of the participant&#39;s credibility. The output may be sent to proper parties and/or devices such as a web page, computer, e-mail, PDA, pager, database, report, etc. for appropriate action.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/370,440 filed Feb. 20, 2003, which in turn is acontinuation-in-part of my U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.60/425,495, filed Nov. 12, 2002.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to information processing andmore particularly to an automated system of security wherebyparticipants submit a voice sample for an analysis of the participant'struthfulness, credibility, intention or general deception.

There are numerous technologies wherein computers analyze or make use ofhuman speech. For example, speech recognition software exists which willconvert an oral message into a text format through speech-to-textsoftware or by correlating the speech parameters of an oral message with“reference” speech parameters in order to interpret a participant's oralresponse.

There are also in existence several systems for computerizing the entirevoice process. Both mechanical and electronic systems have beensuccessfully employed in the design of computer voices. Computerhardware known as “voice platforms” or “text-to-speech engines” are wellknown in the art. For example, automated voice messaging systems, suchas described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,487,533 and 6,483,899, retrieve a textmessage and automatically generate a language identifier correspondingto the text message. The text message is converted intocomputer-generated speech in a language corresponding to the languageidentifier. The systems then store or receive oral messages and convertthe oral message to a text message using speech recognition software,and transmit the text message to an intended recipient. The oral messagemay also be sent as an attachment to the message.

Further, Interactive Voice Response (also known as IVR) is a maturetechnology that has been used for decades. Its primary functions havebeen to collect information from telephone callers, process thatinformation and supply information to the caller. Over the years,Interactive Voice Response has developed into a highly productive toolthat automates many processes that would otherwise require the time andexpense of human beings to complete the task.

For example, Interactive Voice Response has been used extensively bybusinesses to answer consumers' questions, such as a bank providingaccount information using a computer over the telephone. InteractiveVoice Response also includes telemarketing systems that are becomingmore and more prevalent in society. These systems include a database ofstored messages which are transmitted to homes across the country. Themessages include advertisements and notices which can automaticallyprovide information to 10s of thousands of listeners at a time.Similarly, automated response engines are used by companies to answerquestions and provide information to callers. More complicated automatedresponse engines are capable of asking questions and automaticallyrecording responses. The caller responses may be provided by voicearticulation, or formed by callers pressing buttons on the telephone toselect various prerecorded responses combined with information that maybe retrieved from some other database system based on the user's requestand their account information.

There has not been a system to determine the truthfulness, credibility,or intent of multiple callers simultaneously that can also leverage thecapabilities of an Interactive Voice Response system or other multiplesimultaneous audio input devices, such as Voice Over Internet Protocol(VOIP), Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), wireless networks such as80211.a, 80211.b, 80211.g, 80211.x, open air, to PDAs or other wirelessdevice, Satellite, 3G, GSM, CDMA, TDMA, Cellular, etc. Nor has therebeen a system that can automate the information gathering process fortruthfulness, credibility or intent of multiple callers. Callers havesimply provided information without any analysis as to whether theinformation is credible or whether the information is being submittedfor dishonest purposes. As a first example, it would be advantageous ifa bank could automatically detect the credibility of persons accessingbank records as a criteria for determining whether the person isauthorized to access the records. Speaker intent systems could also beused by the bank as part of their criteria to determine whether theperson is performing authorized bank transactions, or to determinewhether the caller should be subjected to additional checks and balancesbefore completing the transaction.

Another example might be in the initial opening of an insurance claim toidentify the overall honesty or fraud risk or that particularapplicant/claim.

As an additional example, Interactive Voice Response systems aresometimes used to transact sales of products over the phone. Currently,such systems do not provide any analysis as to whether the buyer isauthorized to use billing information, such as a credit card. Moresimply, though these automated systems are capable of providinginformation and soliciting information from a great number of callers atone time, these systems do not assess the credibility of callers orscreen callers as to the truthfulness or intent of their responses, nordo they combine this information with other known pieces of informationavailable from either an IVR or other data process device in anautomated fashion in order to create even higher accuracies in theirassessment.

Human speech is generated by the vocal cords and by turbulence asexpelled air moves through the vocal tract creating a resonance of thecavities in the head, the throat, the lungs, the mouth, the nose, andthe sinus cavities. Previous experiments show three types ofvoice-change as a result of stress. The first of these usually manifestsitself in audible perceptible changes in speaking rate, volume, voicetremor, spacing between syllables, and fundamental pitch or frequency ofthe voice. The second type of voice change is not discernible to thehuman ear, but is an apparently unconscious manifestation of the slighttensing of the vocal cords under even minor stress, resulting in adampening of selected frequency variations. When graphically portrayed,the difference is readily discernible between unstressed or normalvocalization and vocalization under mild stress, attempts to deceive, oradverse attitudes. These patterns have held true over a wide range ofhuman voices of both sexes, at various ages, and under varioussituational conditions. The third is an infrasonic, or subsonic,frequency modulation which is present, in some degree, in both the vocalcord sounds and in the formant sounds. This signal is typically between8 and 12 Hz. Accordingly, it is not audible to the human ear. Due to thefact that this characteristic constitutes frequency modulation, asdistinguished from amplitude modulation, it is not directly discernibleon time-base/amplitude chart recordings. However, this infrasonic signalis one of the more significant voice indicators of psychological stress.In addition, some voice based lie detection applications of currentinvention also employ artificial intelligence and neural networks to getan emotional reading of the person's intent.

There are in existence systems for recognizing emotions in speech.Thereby, numerous methods such as, neural networks and ensembles ofclassifiers, are utilized. For example, a voice authentication algorithmutilizing a neural network voice authentication algorithm is describedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,697. Meanwhile, classifiers use pitch and linearpredictive coding (LPC) parameters (and usually other excitationinformation too) for analyzing or encoding human speech signals isdescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,427,137 and 6,463,415.

Many particular methods of voice analysis can be selected within thegeneral framework of LPC modeling. For example, pitch or a formatfrequency are common analytes, which correspond to resonances of thevocal tract, which in turn corresponds to the frequency at which thelarynx modulates the air stream.

Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,821 describes an approach whereinformant frequency distribution patterns are analyzed to produce a firstoutput indicative of the nulls in the FM demodulated signal, a secondoutput representing the duration of the nulls, and a third outputproportional to the ratio of the total duration of nulls during a wordperiod to the total length of the word period. The ratio is used todiscriminate between theatrical emphasis and stress.

Commercial vendors of voice stress analyzers in the United Statesinclude, but are not limited to: The National Institute for TruthVerification, CCS International, Diogenes Group, Risk Technologies, andNemesysco, as well as, Makh-Shevet in Israel. Other names used to referto voice stress analysis (VSA) include but are not limited to:CVSA—Computerized Voice Stress Analyzer (analysis), Lie detector, TruthDetector, Narrative Analysis, emotional analysis, psychologicalanalysis, psychological stress evaluation (PSE), Rich PsychologicalAnalysis, Credibility Assessment.

The disadvantage of the known approaches to voice credibility assessmentis that large-volume applications are presently impractical and noteconomical. For example, known approaches require personnel to operatethe systems on a one-to-one basis and/or these systems cannot processlarge volumes of voice samples or simultaneous voice samples. Inaddition, specialized equipment and software must be installed at thelocal computer for each person performing analysis.

Thus, there is a need for a speaker intent and credibility solution thatis automated, and is capable of recording and analyzing the responses ofpersons located anywhere around the globe where a communications linkcan be established. It would further be desirable for an automatedsystem that was capable of simultaneously analyzing the responses ofnumerous persons at one time. Additionally, it would desirable if theautomated system could be applied to various applications in a varietyof fields, such as: insurance, unemployment, disability, welfare,homeland security, parole management, call centers and customerrelationship management, security in general, banking, legal, creditcard fraud, general fraud prevention, employment screening, salespriority assessment, predictive analysis, etc. In addition, dynamicprompts could be generated from a business process based on thereal-time analysis of speaker. For example, a questionable answer wouldcause the system to prompt for further detail or solicit moreinformation about the suspect response.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a speaker intent analysis system capable ofcommunicating with a plurality of persons simultaneously. In the mostgeneral of terms, the speaker intent analysis system includes a first“inquiry” transceiver for transmitting questions to participants toelicit human participants' verbal responses, and for receiving theparticipants' responses. The speaker intent analysis system furtherincludes at least one second transceiver for permitting participants toreceive and respond to the questions, and for transmitting theparticipants' verbal response back to the first transceiver. Preferably,the speech intent analysis system includes many transceivers forallowing a plurality of participants to concurrently receive and respondto questions, make requests and/or process dialogue.

Of importance to the practice of the invention, the speaker intentanalysis system further includes a computer processor in communicationwith the transceivers for receiving the responses of multipleparticipants. In response to questions, the participant responds with averbal answer which is transmitted by the participant's transmitterthrough to the processor. The processor receives the participant'sresponse, submits the response for analysis when appropriate andanalyzes one or more speech parameters by applying any of numerousspeech stress methodologies to distinguish whether the speech parameterindicates a high or low probability of truthfulness. Thereafter, theprocessor produces output signals which include objective factual data,scientific analysis and potentially artificial intelligence and/orneural network analysis information that indicates whether theparticipant's response indicates the speaker's intent and a high or lowprobability of truthfulness and potentially identifying a risk factor.The processor may analyze the response in “real time” therebyeliminating the need for recording the participant's response. However,preferably, the speaker intent analysis system of the present inventionincludes a memory for storing the responses for later review oranalysis. Automated comparisons between multiple sessions can also beachieved.

Preferably, the processor is connected to a database permitting theprocessor to automatically retrieve questions from the database andtransmit the questions using a first transceiver to the participant'stransceiver. These questions can be static or the question and answersession may be dynamic based on the “real-time” analysis of previousresponses.

Also preferable, the system's first transmitter and first receiver arepreferably, but not necessarily, coincidentally located. For example, ina preferred embodiment of the invention, the first transmitter and firstreceiver are provided in the form of a voice processing board, which cansupport multiple transmitters and receivers, and that has the ability tospeak and record which is connected to the computer processor. The voiceprocessing board is also connected to a communications link fortransmitting questions to a human participant. A communications link isdefined as any communications medium capable of recording ortransmitting audio, including but not limited to: The Public SwitchedTelephone Network (PSTN), The Internet, Intranets, Voice Over InternetProtocol (VOIP), Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), wireless networkssuch as 80211.a, 80211.b, 80211.x, Satellite, GSM, CDMA, TDMA, Cellular,radio, television, etc. Meanwhile, the participants' second transceiversare preferably provided in the form of traditional voice telephones orother voice input devices such as wireless telephones, PDA orpre-recorded responses collected by other means.

The invention provides a fully automated computerized system capable ofautomatically retrieving questions stored on the memory medium. Thecredibility assessing system automatically transmits questions over acommunications network to a participant, and automatically receives andanalyzes the participant's responses to the questions. The processorproduces output signals which include objective factual data andscientific analysis information that indicate whether the participant'sresponse indicates the speaker's intent and a high or low probability ofaccuracy.

Additionally, the computerized system may also automatically recognize aparticipant's response to a question by a voice-recognition process,and/or the system may automatically output an alert if the participant'sresponses meet a certain criteria.

Furthermore, the credibility assessing system may use voice recognitiontechnology to automatically recognize the identity of a participant forproviding an alert.

Preferably, the invention also provides a fully automated interactivesystem whereby a plurality of participants may be questioned andanalyzed at the same time. Additionally, the system may automaticallyoutput the product of the analysis, indicative of the probability that aparticipant has been truthful based on the participant's responses, to aplurality of interested parties and/or devices such as a web page,computer, e-mail, PDA, pager, database, report, etc. at one time.

The invention also provides a system whereby a participant activates theinteractive program, resulting in the system performing an analysis ofthe participant's voice, and producing results relating to an analysisof the participant's response.

It is an object of this invention to provide a communications system foranalyzing numerous persons' voices for credibility, intent, risk andtruthfulness.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an automatedcommunications system for recording and analyzing human responses.

Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a system for rapidand remote processing of voice analysis in vast quantity and with theleast possible labor and expense.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating the speaker intent analysis systemof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the speaker intent analysis systemof the present invention wherein the speech parameter analysis is sharedbetween multiple servers;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the data flow from participants to theprocessor;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the speaker intent analysis systemprocess of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the speaker intent analysis system of thepresent invention wherein the speech parameter analysis is conducted onmultiple participants concurrently; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the speaker intent analysis systemfor initial or multiple applications for a participant in amulti-threaded environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In most general terms, the present invention is directed to aninteractive speaker intent analysis system. With reference to thefigures, the speaker intent analysis system includes a plurality oftransceivers 10, having both a receiver and a transmitter, for allowingparticipants to receive questions and verbally respond to suchquestions. The transceiver 10 could be any of the following devicesincluding, but not limited to, a telephone, wireless phone, PDA,computer, web browser, recorder, etc. The transceivers may beconstructed in various forms as can be determined by those skilled inthe art. For example, the transceivers may be constructed as personalcomputers including voice cards. Alternatively, the transceivers may betraditional telephones or other communication devices known to thoseskilled in the art.

The speaker intent analysis system further includes at least one“inquiry” transceiver 30 for transmitting questions to the participantsto elicit verbal responses which are transmitted back to the inquiryreceiver. The participant transceivers 10 and inquiry transceivers 30are connected by a communications network 12. In a preferred embodiment,the participant transceivers are traditional telephones connected to thePSTN (Public System Telephone Network) or other communication links asdefined above, which are known or capable of being produced by thoseskilled in the art.

Of importance to the practice of the invention, the speaker intentanalysis system further includes a computer processor 14 incommunication with the transceivers for transmitting questions andreceiving the responses of the participants. In response to questions,the participant responds with a verbal answer which is transmitted bythe participant's transmitter to the processor 14. The computerprocessor includes a voice processing platform which receives theparticipant's responses and analyzes one or more speech parameters byapplying any of numerous speech stress methodologies to distinguishwhether the speech parameter indicates a high or low probability oftruthfulness. Thereafter, the processor produces output signals whichinclude objective factual data and scientific analysis information thatindicates whether the participant's response indicates the speaker'sintent and a high or low probability of truthfulness also referred to asa risk factor. The processor may analyze the response in “real time”thereby eliminating the need for a permanent recording the participant'sresponse. However, preferably, the speaker intent analysis system of thepresent invention includes a memory for storing the responses for laterreview or analysis.

The speaker intent analysis system of the present invention may includea typical computer hardware configuration of a workstation having acentral processing unit, such as a microprocessor, and a number of otherunits interconnected via a system bus. The workstation includes memory,e.g. Random Access Memory (RAM) and/or Read Only Memory (ROM), acommunications medium, an I/O adapter for connecting peripheral devicessuch as disk storage units to the bus, a user interface adapter forconnecting a keyboard, a mouse, a speaker, and a microphone. Theworkstation may also include other user interface devices such as atouch screen (not shown) connected to the bus, communication adapter forconnecting the workstation to a communication network (e.g., a telephoneor transmission network) and a display adapter for connecting the bus toa display device. The workstation includes an operating system such asthe Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, NT or Windows/95/98 Operating System(OS), the IBM OS/2 operating system, the MAC OS, Solaris, Lynux or UNIXoperating system. Optionally, telephones, recording related devices,digital receivers, and amplifiers may also be connected to the bus.

With reference to FIG. 1, in a first preferred embodiment, persons 30verbally ask questions of participants 10 in order to receive verbalresponses. The responses are communicated through the communicationsnetwork 12 and received by a central processor 14. Various speechparameters are analyzed using methodologies known to those skilled inthe art to determine the intent and truthfulness of the participant.Preferably, the many participants are connected to the central processorfor simultaneously analyzing the responses of numerous persons at onetime. Advantageously, the system can be scaled to perform the analysisof 10s, 100s, 1000s, or 10000s of participants' responses at one time.

More specifically, two or more participants 10 are connected to thecentral computer processor 14 via communications links 12 a. Thecomputer interface 14 includes a speech parameter analyzer 14 a and inmany cases includes an Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) computerprocessor 14 b which functions as a source of computer-generatedquestions. The computer processor 14 further communicates over a datalink 16, which forms part of the communications network 12, to a memorymedium 18 for recording the participant's response and the product ofthe speech analysis. This information is now available for furtheranalysis using conventional computer processing techniques.

With reference to FIG. 3, in an additional preferred embodiment, thecomputer voice processor includes a database of questions which areautomatically transmitted by the processor in response to predeterminedevents, such as a caller placing a call to initiate activation of thespeaker intent analysis system. The computer voice processor receivesand analyzes a participant's speech patterns with the object ofdetecting the probability of the participant's credibility, intent andtruthfulness. As would be understood by those skilled in the art, theprocessor may include one or more computer processors which are locatedat one location, or may include multiple computer processors spread overgreat geographic distances.

With reference also to FIG. 2, the computer voice processor 14 storespredetermined questions within the computer's memory 17 which areselected and transmitted in audio or textual form to a participant. Themessages are designed to elicit an audio response from the participant,which is then received by the processor for analysis. While the computermay generate and send messages electronically or digitally as either acomputer-generated voice or text message, a participant's response is inthe form of a speech transmission.

Still with reference to FIG. 2, responses flow from the participant 10over the communications link 12 a or 12 b to the computer processor 14.The processor sends the original response to the memory medium 18 forrecording and further analysis of the data. Once analyzed andinterpreted, the data reflecting the participant's truthfulness andintent are also sent to the memory medium 18 for recording. Finally, analert is generated if the data meets a certain criteria which are sentto an interested party or device 20.

The speaker intent analysis system of the present invention, and itsindividual components, may be constructed in various manners as can bedetermined without undue experimentation. Presented below are preferredexamples of such constructions, though the invention is not intended tobe limited to the examples provided.

Computer-Generated Messages

With reference to FIG. 2, in a preferred embodiment, the speaker intentanalysis system of the present invention utilizes computer basedcommunication to select stored questions and transmit such questions tohuman participants. There are numerous methods for computer-basedcommunication, for example, text-to-speech engines, analog and digitalrecordings, etc. Alternatively, an array of digital file formats can beutilized to transmit an audible message stored in a database. Moreover,software programs for fully automated text-messages may also be used,particularly where participants are of various ethnic origins and likelyto require language translation. Text messages may be more readilytranslated into the language of choice automatically.

Text-to-speech engines generally include a text analyzer, a syntax andcontext analyzer, and a synthesis module. The text analyzer, inconjunction with the syntax and context analyzer, utilizes a rule-basedindex to identify fundamental grammatical units within textual data. Thefundamental grammatical units are typically word and/or phoneme-based,and the rule-based index is correspondingly referred to as a phonemelibrary. Those skilled in the art will understand that the phonemelibrary typically includes a word-based dictionary for the conversion oforthographic data into a phonemic representation. The synthesis moduleeither assembles or generates speech sequences corresponding to theidentified fundamental grammatical units, and plays the speech sequencesto a listener.

Other systems, such as voice platforms may be used which preferablyinclude a voice board, a network interface unit, a processing unit, adata storage unit, and a memory. Within the memory, a set of voicemessaging application units; a message buffer; a plurality oftext-to-speech engines and corresponding phoneme libraries; a trigraphanalyzer; and a set of co-recurrence libraries may be stored andoperational. Each voice messaging application unit comprises programinstructions for providing voice messaging functions such as callanswering, automated attendant, and message store/forward operations.

Another computerized voice communication system is described in U.S.Pat. No. 6,487,533 which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.This patent describes in significant detail a process whereby a computerautomatically initiates automatic language identification operations, aswell as, text-to-speech conversion performed in accordance with theresults of the language identification operations.

Furthermore, preferably, the computer's database contains informationfor identifying potential participants. With reference to FIG. 3, thecomputer interface 14 and 14 b preferably includes a voice recognitionprocess 14 c and/or caller identification system 14 d. In particular,automatic server or number identification or a dialed numberidentification or user entry from over the telephone network may be usedto determine the identity of the participant. The identity of theparticipant can then be used by the processor to select which series ofquestions will be used with a particular participant to ensure that thequestions contain particular relevance or appropriateness with regardsto the participant's activity. In this way, the computer-generatedquestions would not be random. Instead, the questions would collectvaluable information that need to be collected, and the questions arealso designed to elicit responses from participants to detect theparticipants' intent. Based on the responses received and the subsequentanalysis results, additional questions and answers may be elicited.

Participant's Response Processing

The speaker intent analysis system's processor receives theparticipant's response via a communications link, for example, atelephone system, Internet, wireless phone, VOIP intercom, radiotransmission, etc. Once received, the processor may analyze theparticipant's response in terms of speech parameters through variousmethods of analysis. As described above, the processor may includemultiple connected processors or one discreet unit capable ofcommunicating with a multitude of participants simultaneously.

The participant's communications system typically will include atelephone having a microphone and a speaker. Optionally, theparticipant's system may also include a computer screen orreading-platform where the computer-generated questions may be displayedin a text format. For example, the computer-generated questions may beaccessed via internet or intranet at all hours of every day so thatspecific questions directed toward participants engaged in a particularactivity may be communicated to participants all over the world. Othernetworks, for example a telephone system, conference calling, or anaudio computer link, may broadcast questions to multiple participantsand enable multiple analyses at the same time.

With reference to FIG. 4, in another embodiment of the invention, thespeaker intent analysis system can be used for several purposes at once.A plurality of participants 10 a, 10 b, 10 c, and 10 d are engaged invarious activities where the credibility or sincerity of theparticipants is in question. In such cases, multiple interested partiesutilize a single credibility assessing system to screen the credibilityof a multitude of participants. Accordingly, the credibility assessingsystem may utilize and retrieve a particular series of questions from adatabase which stores several different series of questions. Each seriesis based upon the participant's activity and the interested party'sparticular concern.

Once received by the processor, the participant's response may berecorded or stored in the computer's memory for later play-back oradditional analysis. Additionally, once the signal has been processedand analyzed, the products of the analysis may also be stored in thecomputer's memory for use at a later time.

With reference to FIG. 5, in operation, the computer interface 14answers a call from the participant 10. Based on the method ofcommunications, i.e. the telephone number dialed or the IP addresscontacted, initial analysis and calibration steps are initiated todetermine the questions to be asked the participant and also used tocalibrate the voice for the speaker intent analysis process. This can bedone by automatically asking standard questions of the participant, suchas their account number, name, address, etc. Subsequent questions 22 areselected from the database and issued to the participant 10. Asrequests, questions and responses are received, they are stored in thememory medium 18 and potentially used to determine further courses ofaction on the fly. When no additional questions or requests arenecessary, the final analysis data results are also stored in the memorymedium 18 and potentially sent to interested parties 20. Based on ananalysis of the participant's responses, an alert 24 is created ifnecessary.

Speaker Intent And Credibility Analysis

Of importance to the practice of the present invention, the credibilityassessing system's processor applies methods of speech analysis toautomatically access the credibility of the speaker's response. Examplesof speech analysis methods are described below but do not encompass allof the possible speech parameter analysis for practicing the presentinvention. Moreover, several speech parameter analysis methods may beintermingled or combined to achieve a most efficient and confidentsystem of analysis.

In a first embodiment, voice signals are received from a person, forexample, via a telephone through an Interactive Voice Response system.The voice signals are analyzed to determine a level of stress,nervousness, irregularity, or other emotion common to a person whenbeing deceitful as described above. Preferably, a degree of certainty asto the level of nervousness or irregularity of the person is provided toassist one searching for deceit in making a determination as to whetherthe person was speaking truthfully. This may be based on statistics of aseries of baseline communications designed to gather a range of normalvoice patterns for a particular person. With reference to FIG. 6, thebaseline voice patterns may be used for immediate analysis of aparticipant's responses. Alternatively, the baseline voice patterns maybe stored in a database for retrieval and comparison to a participant'sresponses provided at a later date.

Voice analysis includes extracting at least one feature of the voicesignals, which is used to determine the level of nervousness orirregularity of a person. Examples of features that may be extractedinclude, but are not limited to: a maximum value of a fundamentalfrequency, a standard deviation of the fundamental frequency, a range ofthe fundamental frequency, a mean of the fundamental frequency, a meanof a bandwidth of a first formant, a mean of a bandwidth of a secondformant, a standard deviation of energy, voice vibrato, a speaking rate,a slope of the fundamental frequency, a maximum value of the firstformant, a maximum value of the energy, a range of the energy, a rangeof the second formant, and a range of the first formant.

As an option, after a set of voice features has been extracted, thecomputer processor analyzes some derivative features such as LPC (linearpredictive coding) parameters of signal or features of the smoothedpitch contour and its derivatives. For example, fundamental parametersof a person's speech such as frequency, energy, speaking rate, durationand number of pauses, first three formants and their bandwidths may becalculated and considered. Then secondary features, such as, speakingrate can be calculated as the inverse of the average length of thevoiced part of utterance. Most parameters may be statistically expressedas: mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum and range, slope, linearregression, best fit line, proportions such as (voiced energy—the totalenergy of utterance), etc. There may be no limit to the variousstatistical calculations available to distinguish a base-line voicepattern to stress-affected voice patterns.

In one embodiment of a speaker intent analysis, a transducer convertsthe sound waves of the oral utterances of the participant intoelectrical signals wherefrom they are connected to the input of an audioreceiver, e.g. an amplifier, which adjusts the power of electricalsignals to a more stable, usable level. The audio receiver's output isconnected to a filter for eliminating undesired frequency and noisecomponents.

After potentially filtering the signal, the signal is sent to an FMdiscriminator where the frequency deviations from the center frequencyare converted into signals which vary in amplitude. The amplitudevarying signals are then detected in a detector circuit within theprocessor for the purpose of rectifying the signal and producing asignal which constitutes a series of half wave pulses. After detection,the signal is connected to an integrator circuit within the processorwherein the signal is integrated to the desired degree. In circuit, thesignal is either integrated to a very small extent, producing a waveform, or is integrated to a greater degree, producing a signal. Afterintegration, the signal is amplified in an amplifier and connected to aprocessor which determines the emotion associated with the voice signal.An output device such as a computer screen or printer is used to displaythe detected emotion. Optionally, statistical data may be produced aswell.

In another embodiment of the present invention, voice analysis includestransmitting the participant's response to the processor as anelectronic signal from, for example, a transducer or recorder via aninput port. An operational amplifier with gain and performancedetermining resistors can isolate and provide linear amplification ofthe input signal. This isolated and/or amplified signal may then bedirected by a processor or diode to specialized circuitry for analyzingand comparing, differentiating, and/or rectifying (by way of filters,for example) occurrences within the input signal such as nulls,voltages, and gate, frequency, voice vibrato, and many other speechparameters.

In still an additional embodiment of the present invention, thecredibility assessing system detects emotion using statistics. Thedatabase includes probabilities of particular voice features beingassociated with an emotion. Preferably, the selection of the emotionfrom the database includes analyzing the probabilities and selecting themost probable emotion based on the probabilities. For example,credibility may be indicated as a function of stress, nervousness, fearor anger, for example, and so credibility may be assessed through ananalysis of many choices of emotions.

Lastly, data that is collected which represents voice patterns may beenhanced by, for example, normalization processes, to more readilydiscern distinct features of the voice pattern. One skilled in the artof statistical analysis is knowledgeable enough to identify theadvantages and disadvantages of various statistical test methods.

By this method, preliminary responses to questions provide a base-lineor standard for which subsequent questions can be compared. In effect,preliminary responses provide a range of normal speech parameters forcalibrating the credibility assessment system to a particularparticipant's voice.

In some instances, a participant with bad intent may anticipate thepurpose of such a processor as detecting truthfulness or credibility. Insuch cases, the participant may answer truthfully to questions with theinterest of passing through the security measure without being detectedfor their bad intent. For this reason, the processor must also beequipped with voice recognition to identify responses that indicatemalfeasance without indicating dishonesty or untruthfulness.

In such cases, the participant will orally speak the response to bereceived by the processor which contains speech recognition software.The speech recognition software may identify responses that indicate apotential harm or threat that may/or may not be perceived by the speechparameter analysis for truthfulness.

Modes of Operation

As is readily understood by one skilled in the art, the speaker intentassessing system can optionally incorporate a limitless arrangement ofvarious computer-generating messaging systems and participant responseprocessing systems.

In addition to the system components, however, the speaker intentanalysis system may be employed in either a passive, interactive, orautomatic modes of operation. In the passive or automated modes ofoperation, the participant and the questioner need not know that thecredibility assessing system is in operation. In this case, the speakerintent assessing system is a seamless addition to the communicationsnetwork. In such a case, the database containing questions and theprocessor for analyzing the responses may be integrated into thecommunications network or may be separate units only receiving signalsfrom the questioner and/or the responder. This type of system mayparticularly be of benefit to government or law enforcement agencieswhere security is a priority.

In the interactive mode of operation, communication may already be inprogress through the speaker intent analysis system when a party decidesto engage the speaker intent assessing system. In such a case, thecommunication link may route the communication to the speaker intentanalysis system interface, or it may be added in remotely via aconference bridge, or the recorded speech could be analyzed at a latertime. The advantage of this system is the option to engage the speakerintent analysis system at will and only during periods of communicationsthat are of interest for analysis. Interested parties, such as insurancecompanies, would be greatly assisted if in the event of a claim, theclaimant could be screened for credibility at the time of reporting aloss.

In the automatic mode of operation, which is the preferred embodiment ofthe invention, the speaker intent analysis system is fully automatedwherein every communication on a given communications network engagesthe credibility assessing system interface. In the “automatic” mode, thesystem asks the questions, obtains the verbal response and processes theresponse using the voice based lie detector technology in an automatedfashion. The results from the lie detector technology are then passed onfor further analysis that combines the lie detector information withother known information to determine a speaker's intent and credibility.Responses are analyzed individually and as a whole.

A telephone or the like is designated as a terminal for screeningparticipants. This terminal may include a speaker or a computer screenfor emitting questions and a microphone for receiving participants'responses. Furthermore, this terminal may be located in any convenientsetting, such as one's home, airport terminals, bus and train depots,mail service depots, entrances into secured buildings, entrances intospecial ceremonies or events, or even a lender's or employee-services'office. Calls and questions can be initiated through an InteractiveVoice Response (IVR) platform. Responses are then pooled at a singleprocessing system having high line density voice processing boards forpermitting the analysis of hundreds or thousands of calls at the sametime.

Where appropriate, after the speaker intent analysis system analyzes aresponse, the computer produces an output signal that indicatespotential harm or threat that may be transmitted to proper authoritiesor interested parties for immediate action.

EXAMPLE 1

The present invention has almost unlimited uses. For example, in a firstpractice of the invention, the speaker intent analysis system is used toscreen persons applying for life insurance. To this end, a personcalling the insurance company on the phone is fed a series of computerproduced questions to calibrate the person's voice for credibilityassessment. The preliminary questions may include, for example, arequest for a person's name, address, phone number, billing information,and the nature of their call. Thereafter, the computer uses speechrecognition software to determine the nature of the call and selects aseries of questions from its database relating to the caller's inquiryor based upon the embodied design of that application. For example aninquiry for life insurance might result in the computer selectingquestions relating to the caller's age, sex, health, smoking anddrinking habits, etc.

The speaker intent analysis system's computer collects the answers andthen processes them for analysis. The system then determines thecredibility of the applicant's responses individually, grouped andcombined. Each response would have its own score and weight. A groupedor combined output may conclude that the applicant has a score of 674 ofa possible 1000 of being truthful about their health history, ingeneral. Depending on the credibility analysis being performed, thescore of 674 may be high, low or moderate concern for deception.Additionally, the computer processor preferably provides a credibilityassessment as to answers to specific questions. For example, thecomputer may determine that the person was truthful when stating theyhad never experienced a stroke. However, the computer may issue an alertindicating that there is a high likelihood that the person is beinguntruthful regarding the age that his parents became deceased.

The participant's responses, and the credibility of his responses, arethen considered by a person, or by the computer, in providing theparticipant with an insurance quote. For example, the insurance company,using the computer, may simply increase the caller's premium by anestablished percentage if his credibility is at risk.

EXAMPLE 2

As a second example, the speaker intent analysis system is used tocollect and assess worker's compensation claims for job-relatedinjuries. Typically, the claimant must report periodically over thephone to the insurance company as to the status of his injury and statusof the efforts for rehabilitation, including identifying his recentvisits to doctors and therapists. To this end, the claimant calls aphone number which directs his call so as to be controlled by acomputer. A series of questions are asked. These questions may includepreliminary questions so as to provide a baseline, or calibration of theclaimant's voice. For example, these questions may include: (1) thecause of the injury; (2) whether the injury still exists; (3) whetherthe claimant is able to work; (4) whether the claimant has collected anyunreported income or income from another source; and (5) whether theclaimant has worked during the period of collecting worker'scompensation. The voice patterns may be used for immediate analysis todetermine the intent and truthfulness of a participant's responses.Alternatively, the baseline voice patterns may be stored in a databasefor retrieval and comparison to participant responses provided at alater date.

With reference to FIG. 6, as an example, during a participant's firsttelephone call, a participant is asked a series of calibrationsquestions. The participant's responses provide calibration data forstorage in a central database. For an initial 11 weeks, each answersubmitted by the claimant is compared against the calibration data andthe results of the analysis indicates participant truthfulness. Upon the12^(th) week, however, the claimant's answers are compared against thecalibration data and the analysis indicates deceit or untruthfulness. Inparticular, the analysis might indicate that the participant wasuntruthful about their ability to work and that they have income fromanother source. This information, useful to the insurance company, maybe used as an additional criteria to be considered when determiningwhether to initiate an interview, evaluation, or checkup of theclaimant.

EXAMPLE 3 Insurance Claims

As an additional example of the speaker intent analysis system of thepresent invention. An insured patron calls to report a claim and engagesthe speaker intent analysis system (S.I.A.S.) in automatic mode. Anautomatically initiated conversation may proceed as follows:

-   S.I.A.S.: Please state your name and policy number.-   patron: John Doe, Number 9872357.-   S.I.A.S.: Are you calling to report a claim?-   patron: yes-   S.I.A.S.: Are you medically injured?-   patron: yes-   S.I.A.S.: Please state the extent of your injuries known to you at    this time.-   patron: I have a fractured right arm and bruising on the right side    of my body.-   S.I.A.S.: Does this claim regard damage to a vehicle, residence, or    other? If so, please specify any identifying characteristics such as    injury, or make and model, VIN number, or complete address of the    residence.-   patron: Vehicle, Honda Prelude, 1995, VIN Number WU62343198.-   S.I.A.S.: Please specify the date and time of the damage.-   patron: Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2001.-   S.I.A.S.: Please specify the exact location, including the nearest    complete address, at which the damage occurred.-   patron: On Broadway, block 500, Chicago, Ill. 45847-   S.I.A.S.: Please specify the cause and nature of the damage.-   patron: Side-to-side collision with a red vehicle, owned by a    Mr. L. R. Sullivan.-   S.I.A.S.: Please identify a phone number and time at which you can    be reached within 24 hours.-   patron: (215) 678-6457, at 6 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Using speech recognition technology, the patron's responses aretransferred into a written format for review by a claims adjuster.Responses that could not be speech recognized are marked against thespecific response and submitted for transcription. Furthermore, thespeaker intent analysis system provides an assessment as to thecredibility of the patron's responses. Preferably, this information isprovided to the claims adjuster while the caller is still on thetelephone, so the adjuster can ask or respond to additional questions,or provide requested information to the patron.

EXAMPLE 4 Public Transportation, Airplane

As additional example, the speaker intent analysis system is used tosupport homeland security. To this end, travelers approaching anairplane first must communicate with the speaker intent analysis system.The speaker intent analysis system may be made available at a boothlocated inside the airport terminal. Alternatively, the traveler may beasked a series of questions when purchasing his ticket over the phone.Communication may proceed as follows:

-   S.I.A.S.: Please state your name and boarding number or social    security number.-   traveler: Jane Doe, 235-79-3646-   S.I.A.S.: Please state the date and your departure city.-   traveler: Jun. 15, 2002, Seattle, Wash.-   S.I.A.S.: Are you carrying any illegal substances or weapons?-   traveler: no-   S.I.A.S.: Do you have any unlawful intent while traveling today?-   traveler: no

The first two questions are used by the speaker intent analysis systemto calibrate the traveler's voice. They are also used to validate theperson's records, and may be used to effect background checks as may bedeemed necessary. Moreover, the initial responses may be used for voiceprint identification, though passwords may also be added. Thereafter,the responses to the final two questions are analyzed as to theircredibility. An analysis suggesting lack of truthfulness or irritabilityor nervousness may be used to trigger a more thorough search of thetraveler by security.

While the above description contains many specificities, the readershould not construe these as limitations on the scope of the invention,but merely as exemplifications of preferred embodiments thereof. Thoseskilled in the art will envision many other possible variations withinits scope. Accordingly, the reader is requested to determine the scopeof the invention by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, andnot by the examples which have been given.

EXAMPLE 5 Sales Priority Assessment

A mortgage lending institution has just run a series of advertisementsabout their new low interest loans. The call center is inundated withunusually large volumes of calls and cannot respond or answer every callwith a live operator.

The process may proceed as follows:

-   S.I.A.S.: Please state your name-   Potential customer: John Smith-   S.I.A.S.: Please say your telephone number-   Potential customer: 949-555-1234-   S.I.A.S.: You said “949-555-1234”, Is this correct?-   Potential customer: Yes-   S.I.A.S.: Will you be wanting to get your loan within the next 7    days?-   Potential customer: Yes

S.I.A.S.: Are you interested in more information regarding our new homeloan programs or would you like to apply for a loan?

-   Potential customer: I would like to apply for a loan

Based on the responses given, and the speaker intent credibilityanalysis, the caller might be placed in a priority queue to speak to anagent sooner or notified that they will be called back within a shortperiod of time (shorter than without the assessment). Or if the resultsdetermine that the person is really just window shopping, they will bescheduled for a callback, but will be assessed a lower priority. Thegoal is to make sure that the potential customers with the highestlikelihood of actually applying for a loan are given attention first.

Accordingly, I Claim:
 1. A speaker intent analysis system comprising: a.a plurality of participant transceivers, each including a transmitterfor transmitting audible answers and receiver for receiving audiblequestions; b. at least one “inquiry” transceiver including a transmitterfor transmitting audible questions to said participant receivers and areceiver for receiving the audible answers to the questions; c. acommunications network for connecting said participant transceivers tosaid inquiry transceiver; and d. a central voice processor connected tosaid communications network and said inquiry transceiver for receivingthe audible answers from said questions, said central voice processorincluding capabilities of voice analysis including analyzing speechparameters of the plurality of audible answers for producingdeterminations as to a participant's intent to deceive or not deceivewhen producing the audible answers.
 2. The speaker intent analysissystem of claim 1 wherein said inquiry transceiver includes a computerprocessor for automatically transmitting said questions from an internaldatabase.
 3. The speaker intent analysis system of claim 1 wherein saidinquiry transceiver is constructed in the form of a traditionaltelephone to allow a person to verbally propound questions transmittedto said participant transceivers.
 4. The speaker intent analysis systemof claim 1 comprises a plurality of “inquiry” transceivers, said inquirytransceivers including a transmitter for transmitting questions to saidparticipant receivers and a receiver for receiving the audible answersto the questions.
 5. The speaker intent analysis system of claim 2wherein said communications network is a telephone network.
 6. Thespeaker intent analysis system of claim 4 wherein said communicationsnetwork is a telephone network.
 7. A method for assessing speaker intentcomprising the steps of: a. transmitting audible questions over acommunications network to a plurality of participants at one time; b.receiving audible answers to the questions by a central processor; c.analyzing a plurality of participant audible answers by the centralprocessor; and d. producing a computer generated output reflecting adetermination as to a participants' emotional states including theparticipants' intent to deceive or not deceive when producing theirresponses.
 8. The method for assessing speaker intent of claim 7 furthercomprising the step of: a. recognizing the identity of a participantusing speech recognition software.
 9. The method for assessing speakerintent of claim 8 further comprising the steps of: a. providing a listof persons; and b. producing an alert if the participant is identifiedas a person on a specified list.
 10. A speaker intent analysis systemcomprising: a. an inquiry transceiver including a first transmitter fortransmitting audible questions to a plurality of participants to elicita participants' audible answers and a first receiver for receiving theparticipants' audible answers; b. a plurality of participanttransceivers each participant transceiver including a second receiverfor receiving the participant's audible answers to the questions and asecond transmitter for transmitting the participant's audible answers;c. a communications network for connecting said participant transceiversto the inquiry transceiver; d. a database for containing questions; ande. a computer processor connected to said communications network andsaid database, said computer processor retrieving questions from thedatabase based on information gained from earlier participant audibleanswers, transmitting audible questions to the first transmitter fortransmission to participants, receiving the participant's audibleanswers from the first receiver, and analyzing the speech parameters ofthe audible answers for producing determinations as to a participant'sintent to deceive or not deceive when producing the responses.
 11. Amethod for assessing speaker intent comprising the steps of: a.retrieving questions stored on a memory medium using a computer; b.transmitting the questions for audible production over a communicationsnetwork to a plurality of participant transceivers using a computer; c.receiving from the participant transceivers and analyzing the pluralityof participants' audible answers to the audible questions to produce acomputer generated determination as to a participant's intent to deceiveor not deceive when producing the responses; and d. outputting a productof analysis for each participant indicative of the probability that theparticipant intended to deceive or not deceive when producing theparticipants' audible answers.
 12. The method for assessing speakerintent of claim 11 further comprising the steps of: a. recognizing aparticipant's audible answers to a question by a voice-recognitionprocess; and b. outputting an alert if the participant's audible answersmeets a certain criteria.
 13. The method for assessing speaker intent ofclaim 11 further comprising the step of: a. recognizing the identity ofa participant using speech recognition software.
 14. The method forassessing speaker intent of claim 13 further comprising the steps of: a.providing a list of persons; and b. producing an alert if theparticipant is identified as a person on the list.
 15. The method forassessing credibility of claim 11 further comprising the steps of: a.simultaneously transmitting audible questions and receiving audibleanswers to and from a plurality of participants at one time.
 16. Themethod for assessing credibility of claim 15 further comprising the stepof: a. processing audible answers from a plurality of participants atone time.
 17. The method for assessing credibility of claim 11 furthercomprising the steps of: a. transmitting audible questions over acommunications network to a participant during a first session; b.receiving the participant's audible answers to the questions during thefirst session to obtain calibration data concerning the participant'svoice; c. storing the calibration data for retrieval at a later time; d.transmitting audible questions over a communications network to aparticipant during a second session; e. receiving and comparing theparticipant's audible answers from the second session to the calibrationdata to produce a computer generated determination of the credibility ofthe participant; and f. outputting a product of analysis indicative ofthe probability that the participant has been truthful based on
 18. Themethod for assessing speaker intent of claim 17 further comprising thesteps of: a. providing a list of persons; and b. producing an alert ifthe participant is identified as a person on the list.
 19. The methodfor assessing credibility of claim 17 further comprising the step of: a.simultaneously transmitting audible questions and receiving audibleanswers to and from a plurality of participants at one time.
 20. Themethod for assessing credibility of claim 17 further comprising the stepof: a. processing audible answers from a plurality of participants atone time to produce computer generated determinations of credibility ofthe plurality of participants.